Filling system



7 SheecS--Shee'rl l R. H. BREEBACK FILLING SYSTEM May 25, 1954 FiledJuly 13, 1950 BY j M I V /wZ/wm/ ATTORNEYS.

May 25, 1954 R. H. BREEBACK FILLING SYSTEM '7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed J-uly13, 1950 COUNTERPRESURE STAGE Eur/PAL 67h65 1N VENTOR I RudolphJfQrebde, BMMMMMM ATTORNEYS.

May 25, 1954 R. H. BREEBACK FILLING SYSTEM '7 Sheets-Shea?l 5 Filed July13, 1950 IN VENTOR Rudolph J'zpeeack,

l BYQ l' ATTORNES.

May 25, 1954 R. H. BREEBACK 2,679,346

FILLING SYSTEM Filed July 15, 195o 7 sheets-sheet 4 v 172 UPR m`- v CP iIlm 'L Cl, 14aV 144 i PR Rudolph JLBeeacic,

' BYMMPIYMM ATTORNEYS.

May 25, 1954 R. H. BREL-:BACK

FILLING SYSTEM '7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 13, 1950 INVENTOR:

T0 MAN/FOL May 25, 1954 R. H. BREL-:BACK

FILLING SYSTEM '7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed July l5, 1950 lf/ily, 20, BwwourMa .s/v/FT//vs INVENTOR.'

Patented May 25, 1954 FILLING SYSTEM Rudolph H. Breeback, Baltimore,Md., assignor to Crown Cork & Seal Company, Inc., Baltimore, Md., acorporation of New York Application July 13, 1950, Serial No. 173,503

9 Claims. 1 The present invention relates to lling systems and, moreparticularly, to filling systems used in the bottling of carbonatedbeverages.

In the bottling of beer and other carbonated beverages, the liquid isusually iiowed into the bottle from a reservoir containing a body of theliquid and a superposed body of gas under a certain pressure, forexample, iive to six pounds per square inch. The illing cycle includesthe initial step or stage of placing the bottle or other container insealed relation with a lling head including a filling valve. Then thefilling valve is operated to place the container in communication withthe gas containing portion of the reservoir so that a pressure generallycorresponding to the pressure of the gas in the upper portion of thereservoir will be established in the container. Then the filling valveis operated so that liquid will flow from the reservoir to the containerwhile the gas in the container will be returned to the gas space of thereservoir. This flow of liquid occurs at a moderate rate because it issolely due to the gravity effect resulting from the fact that thereservoir is positioned slightly above the container. Therefore, theliquid iiow is sufficiently quiet to minimize foaming. The iiow ofliquid into the bottle is stopped after a predetermined flow or periodof time. Then the upper portion or headspace of the bottle may be placedin restricted communication with the atmosphere, i. e., snifted, torelieve some of the headspace pressure before the bottle is lowered fromthe iilling head. In some installations, after the container has beenlowered from the illing head, gas is iiowed from the upper portion ofthe reservoir through the gas return passages of the filling head toclear those passages.

A beverage filling machine provided with a rotary lling table includingiifty filling heads and a corresponding number of container supportingplatforms is provided with an infeed dial to position the containersupon the supporting platforms and also an outfeed dial to remove thefilled containers from the platforms. With the closest practicablespacing of the infeed and outfeed dials, a container only may travelbetween 320 and 325 with the filling table. During this travel, thefilling head valve will first be operated to establish counterpressurein the bottle. Under normal practice, this portion of the path of travelextends about 30. If the bottle is snifted to atmosphere before it islowered from the filling head, approximately 30 of the travel will beconsumed for this shifting. Therefore, with approximately 325 of thepath of travel available for the full filling cycle, approximately isconsumed with the counterpressure and shifting stages, leaving only 265ofor the flow of liquid into the container. Obviously, the time or travelspace available for liquid iiow primarily determines the output offilled containers.

Stated another way, under the practice now followed, assuming that thefilling machine includes fifty filling heads and filling platforms, notmore than forty-four of the platforms can support containers at anygiven moment and liquid will be iiowing into only thirty-six of these.

Because of the fact that a carbonated liquid cannot be iiowed toorapidly into a container, it is not possible to increase the speed ofrotation of the lling table by too great an extent to thereby increasethe output of filled bottles. Therefore, the usual procedure to obtain ahigh output of iilled containers per minute has been to increase thenumber of filling heads and platforms upon the machine. Any increase inthe size of the iilling table increases the cost of the machine. Also,any increase in the number of lling heads and platforms requires anincrease of the diameter of the rotary filling table and there is alimitation upon this factor. In more detail, a filling machine fortwelve ounce bottles and which includes iifty filling heads requires afilling table having a diameter of approximately six feet. Obviously,the diameter of the filling table and reservoir cannot be substantiallyincreased' beyond six feet without introducing the possibility ofconsiderable vibration and wear upon the bearings of the machine.

An object of the present invention is to enable the output of filledcontainers to be increased without increasing the speed of rotation ofthe filling table or the diameter of the filling table.

Another object of the invention is to provide a filling system of suchcharacter that the time required for the counterpressure stage will bereduced to a minimum.

I have discovered that the time required for counterpressure can bereduced by supplying the containers with counterpressure from a sourceseparate from the filling reservoir and which is at relatively highpressure as compared to the pressure of the superposed body of gas inthe filling reservoir. For example, by the present invention, the usual30 of rotary travel required for the counterpressure stage can bereduced to approximately 7%". Thus, 221/2o normally used for thecounterpressure stage is freed forthe liquid flow stage. On a machineprovided with fifty filling heads, this increases the output of themachine by three bottles on each rotation of iilling table; an outputincrease of approximately 71/2%.

Another object of the invention is the pro` vision of lling head whereinthe gas nowing into the container for counterpressure will move throughpassages or flow lines which are inde pendent of the passages or flowlines used for venting the bottle to the lling reservoir.

In the usual iilling head, the passages through which gas flows from thereservoir to the container to establish counterpressure in the.container are also used for return of gas from the container to thelling reservoir. During the latter portion of the period that liquid isflowing into a, bottle and gas is being returnedto the reservoir, someliquid or foam may move up into the gas return passage of the llinghead. If this liquid or foam remains in the passage, it will initiallyblock the flow of counterpressure gas from the reservoir into the nextcontainer placed under the iilling head, with the result thatestablishment of counterpressure in that container is slightly retarded.The cycle of the machine must be adjusted to compensate for theabove-mentioned retardation of counterpressure. The provision ofseparate passages for the counterpressure flow and the venting nowincluded in the present invention eliminates the necessity ofcompensating for any blocking of counterpressure now and thereby adds tothe output oi filled containers.

A further object of the invention. is to provide .a filling systemwhereby containers can be counterpressured with carbon dioxide or otherl inert gas.

A further advantage of counterpressuring containers from a sourceseparate from the filling reservoir is that such source can supplycarbon dioxide gas, instead of the mixture of air and carbon dioxide gasusually present in the upper portion of the lling reservoir. Anyarrangement which reduces the possibility of air contacting with acarbonated beverage, and particularly with beer, results in an improvedbeverage.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing speciication and` accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, Figure l is a radial section through the upper portionof a beverage filling machine.

Figure 2 is a front elevation of a filling head.

Figure 3 is an `'axial section of the iilling head of Figure 2 showingthe flow ports in liquid iiow stage position.

Figure Li is a transverse section of the lling head body element, theview being taken on the angled line li-ll of Figure 5.

Figure 5 is an elevation of the seat face of the filling head bodyelement.

Figure 6 is a detailed transverse section on the line E--E of Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a transverse section on the angled line l-l of Figure 5.

Figures 8, 9 and 10 are detailed transverse sections on thecorrespondingly numbered lines of Figure 5.

Figure 11 is a front elevation of the lling head disk valve.

Figures l2, 13, 14, 15 and 16 are sectional views on the correspondinglynumbered lines of Figure 11.

Figure 17 is a fragmental view of the lling Oil head body element anddisk valve, the view showing the disk valve in transverse sectionsubstantially on the line I'Z--l's' of Figure 3. The View shows the diskvalve in neutral or closed position.

Figure 18 is a fragmental view similar to Figure 17 but omitting some ofthe details of the latter figure. Figure 18 shows the disk valve incounterpressure stage position.

Figure 19 is a fragmental view similar to Figure 18 but showing the diskvalve in filling stage position, and

Figure 20 isv a fragmental view similar to Figure 18 but showing thedisk valve in the position it occupies during snifting c1' a containerto atmosphere and when passages of the head are to be blown out.

Figure 1 illustrates a beverage lling machine of the general typedisclosed in the United States patents of Robert J. Stewart and WiltieI. Gladielter Nos. 2,097,107 and 2,202,033 for Filling Machine issuedOctober 26, 1937, and May 28, 1940, respectively. In more detail, themachine includes a stationary base and bearing post, not

' shown, and on which a hollow column or sleeve generally designated 3E)is rotatably mounted. The sleeve 35 carries a filling table, not shown,such as disclosed in said patents and which lling table is iitted with anumber of bottle supporting platforms 32. rThe sleeve and table arerotated about the bearing post by a motor and suitable means, includingcams, is provided to cause the container supporting platforms 32 to belowered to receive a container C from an in- 'ieed dial as disclosed insaid patents, and then raised to bring the container into engagementwith depending illing head 3d so that the filling cycle will beperformed with respect to the container. Thereafter, the containersupporting platform will be lowered to enable the container to beremoved from the platform by the usual outfeed dial.

The sleeve also carries the lling reservoir generally designated 36. Ahorizontally extending apron or ange 38 projects outwardly fromreservoir 36, this skirt being upturned at its outer edge to provide ashoulder 40. The filling heads 34 are secured to the shoulder 46 in theusual manner and in vertical alignment with the respective llingplatforms 32. A skirt 42 extends from shoulder CSU to the upper portionof reservoir 36 to enclose piping extending between the lling heads andreservoir.

Assuming that the filling machine is to be used to ll bottles or othercontainers with beer, the beer will be delivered to the lower portion ofreservoir 36 from a Government vat, the beer entering the lower portionof reservoir by a pipe 44 which extends axially of the iilling table andreservoir. A collar depending from the reservoir has a sealed engagementwith the upper end of the pipe 44. In order to maintain the beer in thelreservoir at the desired level and under suitable pressure, gas or airis delivered to reservoir 36 from a suitable pressure source, this gasbeing delivered to the upper portion of the machine by a pipe line 46shown in Figure 1. It will be understood that pipe line 46, whichrotates with the sleeve 3U, is suitably connected to a stationary pipeline, not shown, leading to the machine base from the source of gasunder pressure.

Pipe line 46 extends through the lower wall of iillingv reservoir 36 andopens to a passage 48 extending through one leg of a tripod 50 iixed inthe reservoir. The tripod 50 as a post 52 extending upwardly from itscentral portion and the passage 48 opens to the top surface of post 52.A iioat 55 is vertically slidable on post 52 in accordance with thelevel of the beer in the reservoir, the float including a sleeve 58which encircles the post. Within its upper portion, sleeve 58 carries amovable valve element 60 including a downwardly facing gasket 62 and anupwardly facing gasket 84. The downwardly facing gasket 52 is adapted toengage the upper end of the passage 43 to cut off infeed of gas toreservoir 35 through the passage 48 when the level of the beer in thefilling reservoir drops. When the beer level rises, the upwardly facinggasket 64 will engage a series of ports which open downwardly from achamber 86 provided upon the upper end of a hollow tube 68 whichprojects upwardly from post 52. The chamber 68 is in communication withthe bore of tube 88, which bore opens to a passage 'i0 extending throughanother leg of the tripod 50. An exhaust line 12 to atmospherecommunicates with the passage 1i).

It will be understood that the float 5B and valve element 68 operate inaccordance with the system disclosed in said first-mentioned Stewart andGladfelter United States patent to maint-ain the level of the beer inthe filling reservoir within a suitable level and at a pressure such ashereinafter discussed.

A horizontal pipe line 'M is connected to the gas supply pipe line 46,line 'lll extending to a gas reservoir 'i6 preferably secured to theundersurface of the apron 38. A pressure regulating 14 in advance of gasreservoir 15, the pressure regulator serving to deliver gas to reservoir'I6 at a desired pressure. A line 88 extends outwardly from gasreservoir 16 to a circular manifold 82 which encircles filling reservoir38 immediately adjacent and above the upstanding shoulder d0, so as tobe adjacent the filling heads 34. As is hereinafter explained, aplurality of tubes 84 extend from the manifold, so that each fillinghead 34 is connected to manifold 82 by a separate tube Bil.

As an example, gas line 46 may be connected to a source of carbondioxide gas or other suitable gas and which source is at a pressure ofthirty pounds per square inch. If the gas in the upper portion ofreservoir 36 is to be at a pressure of ve to six pounds, regulator 18will be set to maintain a pressure of about eighteen pounds in gasreservoir 'i8 and manifold 82. Even though passage [i8 is open to line45 and the eighteen pound pressure source, valve 60 operf ated by thefilling reservoir iioat 58 will maintain a pressure of gas in fillingreservoir 36 commensurate with the pressure at the source of liquid. Forexample, if line 44 is connected to a beer vat which is at such pressurethat it delivers beer to reservoir 36 at a pressure offrom iive to sixpounds, iioat valve 60 will throttle the gas iow from passage i8 tomaintain the ve to six pound pressure mentioned above in the upperportion of reservoir 38.

It will thus be seen that the gas in the upper portion of the reservoir(usually relied upon to counter-pressure containers) may be at a normalpressure, but that the gas in the manifold 82, which I rely upon tocounter-pressure the containers, can be at a substantially higherpressure.

The provision of the gas reservoir 16 between the pressure regulator 78and the manifold 82 insures that no pressure drop will occur because ofwire drawing effect at the pressure regulator.

A filling head 34 of the present invention is generally illustrated inFigures 2 and 3. Each filling head includes a body element 88 closed atits inner side by a plate 90 fixed to shoulder 48 as also shown at theright of Figure l. Each body element 88 includes a planar face 92 ofcircular outline and to which various passages open as hereinafterdescribed. A stud 94 projects from the central portion of the seat face92 and a disklike valve element 95 is rotatable upon stud 94, the valveelement including a seat face 98 to which various passages within thedisk Valve open as hereinafter described, these passages bridgingvarious passages of body element 88 to control iiow of gas and liquidthrough filling head 34. For convenience of description, face 92 of bodyelement 88 is hereinafter referred to as the seat face of the bodyelement. It will be observed that a compressible and resilient disk 95such as described in said last-issued patent actually is the faceagainst which valve disk 95 bears.

In accordance with usual practice, a threaded boss |08 depends from bodyelement 88 and an adapter collar |02 is secured to boss |88 by means ofa threaded collar |54. The liquid delivery tube |55 of the filling headis supported centrally of adapter |82 to project downwardly toward thecorresponding filling platform 32. A container centering bell |03 isvertically slidable upon liquid tube |86, the bell including a sealingring |||l against which the mouth of a container C is adapted to seal.When centering bell |88 is in the raised position of Figures 2 and 3, itwill be in sealed position with respect to an annular gasket l I2provided on the lower face of adapter collar |82. The bore of thecentering bell is provided with a spiral passage IM surrounding theliquid Y tube, the lower end of passage ill opening within the sealingring IIE) so as to communicate with the bottle mouth. The upper end ofspiral passage i2 opens to a recess or chamber l5 formed in the lowerface of collar |82 and within gasket H2 so that chamber H5 therebysurrounds the liquid tube |06. As is best shown in Figure 20, twopassages H8 and Hl extend diagonally to the upper surface of collar |82,these passages being inclined upwardly and outwardly and lying indifferent radial planes. Each passage has a sleeve fitted in its upperend, the bore of sleeve H8 of passage ||B being the same size as thatpassage, but the sleeve H9 of passage ||7 has a bore more restrictedthan passage l I7.

The arrangement of the passages in the body element 88 and the diskvalve 98 as well as the manner in which the passages of the disk valve96 are arranged to control flow through the filling head are hereinafterdiscussed in detail in connection with the various stages of operationof the filling head. However, it will be observed rfrom Figure 17 thatthe disk valve includes three passages L, CP and CPR. Passage L is forliquid flow, passage CP for counterpressure flow, and passage CPR forcounterpressure return flow as well as for snifting and blowout flow. Asappears in Figures 13 and 16, the passages L and CP are of U-shaped formin planes parallel to the disk valve axis. As is shown in Figure 17,passage CPR is angled in a radial plane and includes a port to seat faceat each end, as well as an intermediate port at the angle.

Figures 17 to 20 show the disk valve in the position it occupies duringvarious stages of the cycle. In these figures, Figure 17 is a truesection in a radial planek whereas Figures 18 to 20 omit certaindetails. In each of Figures 17 to 20,

`whenever-a port of the disk valve element. is in registration with aport of the body element, the

.body element port is diagrammatically indicated by a circle of reducedsize so that the alignment of the two ports will be more apparent. Thevarious passages of the body element 88 are best illustrated in detailin Figures 4 to 10 while the passages of disk valve 9S are illustratedin detail in Figures 11 to 16.

Neutral stage liquid supply passage |25 (Figure 4), the other-b port 28of the passage L is opposite a blank portion of the body element seatface or seating gas- .ket 95 and, therefore, no fio-w of liquid throughthe filling head will occur. None of the ports of the gas flow passagesCP or CPR. is aligned with any gas passage of the body element duringthe neutral stage.

As is described in said Stewart and Gladfelter Patent No. 2,202,033, thedisk valve S6 is provided with two radially extending arms |30 and |32.The position of these arms during neutral stage is illustrated by solidlines in Figure 2 from which it will be observed that arm |30 depends ina substantially vertical plane while arm |32 extends upwardly.

While the disk valve of a lling head is in the neutral stage position, acontainer C to be filled will be placed upon the corresponding llngplatform 32 by an infeed dial, and the filling platform will then riseto lift the container to the position illustrated in Figures 2 and 3,the raising or lifting movement of the container C causing its mouth toengage the sealing ring I of centering bell |88 to slide the centeringbell upwardly along the liquid tube H16 until the upper surface of thecentering bell engages the gasket ||2 at the lower end of the collar|02. When this occurs, the container C will be sealed to the fillinghead.

Counterpressure stage With the filling table and reservoir of themachine rotating in a clockwise direction so as to carry the fillingheads in the direction of the arrow A of Figures '7 and 17 to 20, thelower arm |30 of a valve disk 95 will contact with a counterpressuretrip as described in said Patent No. 2,202,033 so that the disk valve 3Swill rotate in the direction of the arrows R, viz., in acounterclockwise direction, about stud 94 to the dotted line positiondesignated Counterpressure Stage in Figure 2. rlhe position which thedisk valve passages will occupy with respect to the body `elementpassages during counterpressure stage vposition is shown in Figure i8.It will be noted that during this rotation, the passage CPR will quicklypass through the position indicated in Figure 2O and which ishereinafter discussed under the heading Shifting Stage. However, at thismoment there is no pressure in passage CPR or in the container so theregistration is of no eifect.

As is indicated in Figure 18, the rotation of the disk valve 96 t0counterpressure stage position will move the port |20 of liquid passageL 4Vout of alignment with the liquid support port i |24 of body'element82 but will be insufficientto bring the other port |28 of passage L intoalignment with port |24. Counterpressure passage CP in disk valve 96will be brought into registration with body element ports so that flowof gas from high pressure manifold 82 to the container C will occur asfollows: From manifold 82 by tube 84 to a recess |38 (Figure 9) in therear face of body element 88 and thence by a passage |40 extendingthrough the body element to its seat face 92. Referring to Figure 18,the mouth of passage |40 is designated by a reduced size circle inalignment with port |42 of the valve disk passage. CP so that gas frommanifold 82 will move into this disk valve passage. The other port |44of passage CP is in registration with the port |45 of an angled passage|46 (Figure 7) of body element 88, angled passage |45 extendingdownwardly as shown in Figures 18 and 20 to registration with theadapter collar passage I6 which opens to the recess |I5 in the lower endof the adapter collar. With the centering bell and container sealed withrespect to adapter collar |02, the gas from manifold 82 will move fromrecess H5 through the spiraled passage ||4 and into the container.

.The above described counterpressure gas flow path will exist for only avery brief interval of time. For example, if the filling machine is oneprovided with fifty filling heads and bottle supporting platforms, andthe filling table is rotating at a speed to fill 250 twelve ouncebottles per minute, and if the pressure in the manifold 82 is atapproximately 18 pounds per square inch. the counterpressure stage needonly exist for about 1A of a second to establish a counter.

pressure of approximately four pounds per square inch in the containerC. If the pressure existing above the liquid in reservoir 36 is fromfive to six pounds, a counterpressure of four pounds in the container Cwill result (during the subsequent filling stage of the cycle) in a fiowof liquid which is little, if any, faster than a gravity flow. Theexplanation for such rate of iiow to a point which is at lower pressurethan reservoir 3S is that the now passages are of some length andinclude angles which frictionally retard the liquid flow. Liquid iiow bygravity alone is least apt to create foaming, though if the reducedpressure in container C causes a slightly faster flow, foaming stillwill not occur or will be so slight that it will not be harmful.

In a filling machine having the characteristics and output discussedabove, and where the counterpressure in the container is established-directly from the gas above the liquid in the reservoir 38 and which isat a pressure of five to six pounds, the counterpressure stage must bemaintained for approximately one second. This means that a filling headmoves approximately eighteen inches with the filling table. By theprocedure of the present invention, during the counterpressure stage thefilling head moves only approximately four inches with the fillingtable. Filling heads are normally spaced on four inch centers about afilling reservoir and filling table.

As has been indicated above, the travel and time thus saved by thecounterpressure system of the invention can be used for the liquid iiowstage. Stated another way, the speed of rotation of the machine can beincreased to move containers through a longer filling stage arc oftravel at a higher linear speed than heretofore,

obtained in agiven rperiod of time.

Liquid fiow stage When a filling head has moved about four inches with afilling reservoir in a direction of arrow A of Figure 2, the lower arm|30 0f the disk valve 96 will contact a second trip which will rotatevalve 96 about the stud 94 in the direction of the arrow R, therebymoving the passages of valve 98 to the position relative to the bodyelement passages indicated in Figure 19. As is illustrated in Figure 19,counterpressure gas passage CP of the disk valve now will be closed atboth ends. That is, port |02 will be out of alignment with the gassupply passage |38 leading from manifold 82 and port |00 will be out ofalignment with the port |05 of the counterpressure delivery passage |46leading to container C.

The liquid passage L of the disk valve will now have its port |28 inregistration with the port |24 of the liquid supply passage |26 and itsother port will be in registration with the port |50 of an angled liquiddelivery passage |52 (Figure 7) in the body element 88. Passage |52extends downwardly to the liquid tube |08. The liquid supply passage |26(Figure (i) is enlarged at its rearward end to receive a ball check |54in accordance with usual practice and is connected to a tube |56 whichextends to the lower portion of the reservoir 36. Therefore, liquid inreservoir 36 will flow through tube |56 and thence through the bodyelement passage |28 into the U-shaped liquid passage L of the disk Valveand thence downwardly by the passage |50 and iilling tube |08 into thecontainer C. Because the counterpressure in the bottle at leastsubstantially balances the pressure above the liquid in reservoir 36 theiiow of liquid into the bottle will not be so rapid as to create foam.

While the liquid is owing into container C as described above, thecounterpressure gas and air in container C will be returned to the upperportion of reservoir 36 as follows: Through the spiral passage I0 torecess I5 and then through the passage Il (Figures 3 and 20) in theadapter collar |02. The restricted bore of sleeve ||9 in passage willnot restrict this return flow more than is usually the case. Sleeve |I9opens to an angled passage |84 in the body element 88. The form ofpassage |60 is also shown in Figure 8 from which it will be noted thatit opens to the body element seat face 92 through a port |66. Gasissuingfrom passage |04 and port |66 will enter a port |68 at one end of diskvalve passage CPR and leave the passage |70 through a port |12intermediate passage CPR and which will be in registration with a port|74 of a valve element passage |16 which extends to the rear face of thebody element (Figure 7) to communicate with a tube |78 leading from thefilling head to the upper and gas containing portion of the fillingreservoir 36. As is described in said Stewart and Gladfelter patents,this gas return passage |18 opens to a portion of the reservoir whichcommunicates with the body of the reservoir fby an annular baifle |80 toprevent foam from blocking the portion of the reservoir adjacent thepassage mouth.

As is illustrated in Figure 19, one leg |82 of the angled passage CPRwill be out of the iiow path of the counterpressure return, the port |84at the free end of this leg being opposite a blank portion of the gasket95.

It will be noted that the only portion of the counterpressure returnpath which is also used for counterpressure path is the spiral passageIM of the centering bell |08 and the recess ||5 in the lower end of theadapter collar |02. In more detail, counterpressure enters the recessthrough the passage IIS, whereas counterpressure return moves from therecess through the passage H1.

Liquid will continue to flow into the container and gas will flow fromthe container to reservoir 36 until the container is completely filledwith liquid, the liquid tube |06 also then being filled with liquid'because it is in communication with the liquid in the reservoir. Inmore detail, the next trip to operate the lling head will be sopositioned with respect to the path of rotation of the filling tablethat the disk valve 96 will be returned to neutral stage position aftera travel which is sufficient to permit the lling head having the slowestilow characteristics to ll a container. This may result in movement ofsome liquid up into the lower portion of the gas return path of fasterflowing filling heads, but this situation described.

Sniftzng stage As has been indicated above, when the flow of liquid isto stop, the disk valve 98 will be swung clockwise from the Figure 2dotted line position designated Filling iStage and wherein the passageshave the alignment shown in Figure 19, to the Figure 2 solid lineposition designated Neutral Stage and wherein the passages have thealignment shown in Figure 17. This return is accomplished by contact ofthe upper arm |32 of valve disk with a shifting trip positionedapproximately 2871/2 from the lling trip instead of the usual 265.

After valve disk 98 has rotated about 60 clockwise (arrow RR of Figure19) from the position of Figure 19, it will pass through the positionindicated in Figure 20 to permit snifting to atmosphere of gas from thecontainer. The position of the valve disk arms |30 and |32 at thismoment is indicated by the Figure 2 dotted line showing designatedBlowout Stage.

As the angled passage CPR passes through the position of Figure 20,pressure will be Vented from the container to atmosphere as shown by thearrows S of Figure 20. More specifically, gas will move upwardly fromthe adapter sleeve recess |55 through the passages and |60 and throughport llt` into valve disk port |72 to flow downwardly in passage CPR. toport |88 to enter a port |88 opening to a body passage 80 which opens toatmosphere. The form of passage |90 is best illustrated in Figures 5 and10 from which it will be observed that While the port |08 of passage |90is in the same transverse plane as the return passage |64, the entirepassage |90 is closer to the seat face 92 than is the major portion oithe passage |84.

Even though the alignment of passages mentioned above is only momentary,the fact that the gas in the container Cl and passages is now underpressure will result in the iiow of gas to atmosphere. Such flow orsnift will reduce the pressure within the container suihciently so thatwhen the container subsequently moves downwardly from the lling head toopen its mouth to atmosphere, the container contents will not foam.

It will be noted from Figure 20 that at the moment the container C isplaced in communication with the atmosphere, the counterpressurc istaken care of as hereinafter return tube |78 kopening to reservoir 36also wiil be in communication with the atmosphere because the port |84at the trailing end of valve disk passage CPR will be in registrationwith the body element port |14 leading to tube H8. However, therelatively large volume of gas in the reservoir 36 will not be reducedto any substantial extent by this brief registration whereas the reliefof pressure from the relatively small filling head passages adjacentcontainer C has a marked effect upon the pressure upon the container.

The rotation of the valve disk SB past the position of Figure 20 willcontinue until the disl: reaches the neutral position illustrated inFigure 17 at which time all of the passages through the valve disk willbe closed. Then the lling head and container will move approximatelywith the lling table before the container is lowered from the nllinghead so that after another 15 of lling table rotation, the containerwill be engaged by the outfeed dial and removed from the fillingplatform 32. The interval of time between the snifting of Figure 20 andthe lowering of the container from the lling head will permit thecontainer contents to rest, thereby further reducing the possibility offoaming when the container is lowered from the filling head.

Blowout stage After a container C has been lowered from a lling head asdescribed immediately above, and before another container is placedbeneath that filling head by the infeed dial, the valve disk Sii may bemomentarily returned to the position of Figure 20 to enable the fillinghead passages to be blown out. This movement of disk valve 96 can beaccomplished by providing a trip in the path of travel of the fillinghead and which trip will be engaged by the lower arm to move the latterto the dotted line position designated Blowout Stage in Figure 2. Atthis position, the valve disk passages again will be in the position ofFigure 20. Therefore, gas can flow from the upper portion of thereservoir through the tube |78 and through body element passage |15,thence by the upper portion |82 of angled passage CPR and through theintermediate port |72 and port |65 of body element passage |54 andpassage ||7 to the recess H5 of adapter collar |02. Because thecentering bell |68 is now lowered from the adapter collar |62, thedischarging gas will ow directly to atmosphere from passage ii. Thisflow of gas from the reservoir through the counterpressure returnpassages will eject all liquid and foam from those passages so that theywill be clear for return flow of gas during the illing of the subsequentcontainer. Because the lower port |68 of the angled passage CPR is inregistration with the passage |96 to atmosphere, any liquid or foamwhich may have moved into that portion of the passage during theprevious filling stage will be ejected to atmosphere through passage|90.

The blowout stage will be very brief to prevent any marked loss of gasfrom reservoir 33. Therefore, immediately after valve disk 9S has beenmoved to blowout position, its upper arm |32 will contact with a tripwhich will rotate the disk clockwise to restore it to neutral position.The continuing rotation of the filling table will then bring the fillingplatform into alignment with the infeed dial so that a second emptycontainer will be placed beneath the filling head and theabove-described filling cycle performed with respect to that container.

All of the gas passages through the lling heads 34 may be of 2, diameterof approximately vethirty-seconds of an inch, except that the bore ofsleeve HQ in passage |64 will be about onethirty-second of an inch. Thisrestriction at ||9 will prevent too substantial flow of pressure fromthe container during shifting and also will avoid rise of liquid inpassage |64 during the filling and shifting stages.

If the pressure in the lling reservoir 36 is increased, it ordinarilywill be desirable to increase the pressure in manifold 82. Adjustment of(a) the pressure in manifold 82, (b) the speed of rotation of thefilling table, or (c) the spacing between the counterpressure stage tripand the filling stage trip, will adjust the counterpressure establishedin a container C. These three factors also can be varied in anycombination, bearing in mind that increase of factors (a) or (c) willincrease the container counterpressure, while an increase of factor (b)will decrease counterpressure.

It will be obvious that, if desired, the height of lling of a containerC can be controlled by the vertical height of a counterpressure returnport on the filling nozzle. By the disclosed arrangement, the finalfilling height is controlled by the displacement effect of the llingnozzle.

It will be observed that the embodiment of the method and apparatusdescribed above attains all of the objects set forth in the openingportion of this specification. The terminology employed in thespecication is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, thescope of the invention being dened in the claims.

I claim:

l. The method of iilling containers with liquid comprising maintaining abody of the liquid and a superposed body of gas under pressure in achamberl maintaining a second body of gas under a higher pressure, andinitially flowing gas into a container from the second body of-gasthrough momentarily aligned passages of predetermined size so that thepressure thereby established in the container will not exceed thepressure above the body of liquid, and while said pressure exists in thecontainer initiating flow of liquid from the chamber to the containerand venting gas from the container to the body of gas in the chamber.

2. In an apparatus for nlling containers with a carbonated liquid, a rstreservoir for a body of the liquid and a superposed body of gas, asecond reservoir for a body of gas at a higher pressure than the gas insaid rst reservoir, a container support, a nlling nozzle, a valvedevice, a flow line through said valve device to connect said secondreservoir and said lling nozzle, a second ow line through said valvedevice to connect the gas containing portion of said iirst reservoir andsaid lling nozzle, a third ow line through said Valve device to connectthe liquid containing portion of said first reservoir and said fillingnozzle,

and means to operate said valve device to first momentarily open saidirst ow line to establish counterpressure in a container positioned atsaid lling nozzle, then simultaneously open said second and third flowlines to cause liquid to flow to the container from said f rst reservoirand gas to be returned to said iirst reservoir from the container, andmeans effective after opening of said second land third flow lines tooperate saidl valve device to close all of said ow lines and then l opensaid second now line.

3. Apparatus of the character described in 13 claim 2 wherein said valvedevice includes a passage extending to atmosphere, and said lastmentioned means opens said second ow line into communication with thepassage extending to atmosphere.

4. In a rotary filling machine for carbonated liquids, a rotary fillingtable including container platforms, filling nozzles and a rst reservoirfor carbonated liquid and a superposed body of gas, a second reservoirfor a body of gas, means to maintain the gas in said iirst reservoir ata lower pressure than the gas in said second reservoir, filling valvesrespectively associated with said filling nozzles, each filling valveincluding a body element provided with a planar seat face, a disk valverotatable on said seat face, three separate flow lines extending to saidseat face from the liquid containing and gas containing portions of saidrst reservoir and from said second reservoir, respectively, said diskvalve being provided with three separate passages, a liquid passageextending from said seat face to said llng nozzle, a gas outlet chamberin the lling nozzle and a pair of passages extending from said seat faceto said chamber, and trip means spaced about the path of movement of thelling valves with said filling table to first rotate said disk valve toconnect the gas outlet chamber to said second reservoir, and thenconnect said liquid passage to the lower portion of said first reservoirand simultaneously connect said gas outlet chamber to the upper portionof said reservoir.

5. A rotary filling machine of the character described in claim 4wherein said body element includes a passage extending from said seatface to atmosphere, and means effective after said trip means to rotatesaid disk valve to connect the filling nozzle gas outlet chamber to saidlastinentioned passage.

6. A rotary filling machine of the character described in claim 4wherein said body element includes a passage extending from said seatface to atmosphere, and means effective after said trip means to rotatesaid disk valve to place said flow line extending from the gas containerportion of said first reservoir in communication with saidlast-mentioned passage.

7. A rotary nlling machine of the character described in claim 4including means effective after said trip means to remove a containerfrom said lling nozzle and means to then rotate said disk valve to placethe oW line extending from the gas containing portion of said rstreservoir in communication with said outlet chamber.

8. In an apparatus for iilling containers with a carbonated liquid, afirst reservoir for a body of the liquid and a superposed body of gas, asecond reservoir for a body of gas at a higher pressure than the gas insaid rst reservoir, a container support, and means to flow gas from saidsecond reservoir to a container under such control that the pressure inthe container will approximate the pressure in said rst reservoir, and acommon gas source connected to both of said reservoirs, and a floatoperated valve to control iiow of gas from said source to said firstreservoir.

9. In an apparatus for filling containers with a carbonated liquid, arst reservoir for a body of the liquid and a superposed body of gas, asecond reservoir for a body of gas at a higher pressure than the gas insaid first reservoir, a container support, and means to iiow gas fromsaid second reservoir to a container under such control that thepressure in the container will approximate the pressure in said firstreservoir, and a common gas source connected to both of said reservoirs,a oat operated valve to control flow of gas from said source to saidfirst reservoir and means to control ow of gas to said second reservoirfrom Said Source.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

